Ministers see holiday sermons as chance to emphasize message of Jesus

Tuesday

Dec 23, 2008 at 12:01 AMDec 23, 2008 at 11:19 PM

As the Rev. Blake Carter points out, the prophet Isaiah foretold of the coming of the Messiah as he watched his homeland Israel overrun by the Assyrians, ushering in a time of economic hardship, disease and broken spirits.

Steven Spearie

As the Rev. Blake Carter points out, the prophet Isaiah foretold of the coming of the Messiah as he watched his homeland Israel overrun by the Assyrians, ushering in a time of economic hardship, disease and broken spirits.

“There’s a parallel of where Israel was then and where we are now,” says Carter, senior pastor of Hope Evangelical Free Church in Springfield.

“When Isaiah talked about the Messiah, what he was really saying was: don’t lose hope. For people struggling now, who have lost their jobs, who had to close their businesses or who are suffering depression, that’s something to reflect on.”

Area ministers and priests know many people who will attend Christmas services this week will hear the story about the birth of Jesus in a different way this year, with a lagging economy and uncertainty around every corner. They’ll also prepare for churches filled with first-time visitors and nominal attendees mixed with regular congregants.

It’s probably not surprising that once they arrive, the worshipers want to hear the story they’ve heard many times before. Area pastors say one of the keys to preaching the Christmas sermon is to get out of the way and let the Christmas story tell itself.

“We find that when people do come back for Christmas, they look forward to hearing the familiar stories and promises, even when a pastor like me might think they have heard it all before,” says the Rev. Ed Ingram of Western Oaks Baptist Church in Springfield.

The temptation for pastors, Ingram says, is to find new and different approaches. But in those instances, “they don’t resonate with our people (both regular attendees and newcomers) like just letting the Christmas story speak for itself.”

One of the more relatable themes and teachable ideas, Carter says, is God taking on human form. The Gospel writers didn’t accord Jesus a regal birth; the stable was shown to Joseph and Mary because putting them up in the inn would have brought shame on the guests for legitimizing an out-of-wedlock birth, he adds.

The Rev. Samuel Hale, pastor of Zion Baptist Church in Springfield, wonders what the reaction would be if the circumstances of Christ’s birth were the same now.

“How do we deal with teen pregnancy? The abortion issue? These are all real-life situations,” says Hale, author of “When Messiahs Come.”

Modern society, says the Rev. Richard Chiola, pastor of Springfield’s St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church, may have lost sight of the powerful punch the Christmas story delivers. The birth literally shakes the religious and political status quo — something he’ll touch on in his sermons.

“Christmas is not something that can be contained in a performance or a sermon or put away until another commercial season needs to be rolled out,” he says. “Christmas is not a measure of the health of a national economy. Christmas is a historic reality that calls for a complete change of personal, religious and political life.”

The only worthy response to this historic reality?

Worship, Chiola says.

“That is why Mary worships, the shepherds worship, the Magi worship and even Herod fakes worship as an excuse to find the child,” he says. “Even people who never worship at any other time in the year seem drawn to worship (at Christmas.)

“But as Charles Dickens so beautifully displays in ‘A Christmas Carol,’ the real transforming power of worship is to live the reality of Christmas every day of the year.”

The Rev. Joe Eby says Christmas is a chance to get a message across to those not necessarily in the pews every week.

“We always emphasize,” says Eby, pastor at Chatham Presbyterian Church, “that we need them here as a community of faith, in order to be a disciple of Jesus Christ in the fullest sense.”

The Rev. Paul Olson says the idea of Christ bringing hope to a darkened world, that the world isn’t abandoned, is particularly timely given the realities of life.

“My intent,” says the pastor of St. John’s ELCA Church in Springfield, “is to help people know and believe that Christ is not just for a time gone by and is not just some nice, emotional feeling, but rather, a powerful and profound statement of how much God loves God’s world and the people that are in the world.”

Eby adds: “Folks in difficult economic situations could use a good message of hope. My prayer is that they would be able to hear it in that way.”

Ultimately, the Rev. Ed Ingram says he finds people are receptive to the message of the Christmas story.

“What we as pastors can forget sometimes is that God uses this wonderful story to speak to people anew each and every year,” he says. “It’s what all people want to hear. We don’t have to and probably should not worry about it having all been said before.

“What’s left to be said is what needs to be said about Christmas, that the birth of Immanuel means ‘Christ is with us.’”

Steven Spearie can be reached at spearie@hotmail.com or (217) 622-1788.